1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to telecommunication relay services (TRS), and specifically, to a communication system capable of providing advanced call signaling information for TRS calls.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various federal and state laws and regulations require telecommunication carriers to provide services by which hearing and speech impaired people can communicate with other people. In response, the telecommunication carriers have developed telecom relay services (TRS) to translate between hearing or speech impaired callers and called parties. TRS systems in the prior art typically involve a hearing impaired person dialing a toll free number to connect to the TRS call center using a TDD/TTY device. An agent at the TRS call center answers the call and prompts the hearing impaired caller for a phone number to out-dial. The agent then out-dials the phone number and connects the hearing impaired caller to a called party at the phone number. The agent translates text to speech or speech to text between the called party and the hearing impaired caller.
Current TRS systems include automatic call distributors (ACD) that route the incoming calls from the hearing and speech impaired individuals to call agents at TRS call centers. The Rockwell Galaxy is an example of an ACD in the prior art. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that TRS systems support new services such as SS7 for advanced call information. Unfortunately, providing advanced call signaling to a called party is beyond the capabilities of the prior art. Current systems are not able to provide advanced call signaling information for the out going calls placed by the call agents. For instance, when an agent outdials a phone number on behalf of a hearing impaired caller, the called party receives a Caller ID associated with the TRS call center rather than a Caller ID for the hearing impaired customer. Thus, current TRS solutions fall short of supporting the newly required and anticipated services.
It is desirable in the art of telecommunications to have a TRS communication system capable of providing advanced call signaling information for TRS calls.